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Literature Review Paper LITERATURE REVIEW PAPER VENTURA 118 WILDLIFE CORRIDOR ASSESSMENT PROJECT CALTRANS DISTRICT 7 EA NUMBER 223800 CONTRACT 43A0082 TASK ORDER 9 July 25, 2003 LITERATURE REVIEW PAPER VENTURA 118 WILDLIFE CORRIDOR ASSESSMENT PROJECT CALTRANS DISTRICT 7 EA NUMBER 223800 CONTRACT 43A0082 TASK ORDER 9 Prepared for: Caltrans District 7 Division of Environmental Planning Mail Stop 16A 120 South Spring Street Los Angeles, California 90012 Contact: Paul Caron (213) 897-0610 Amy Pettler (213) 896-8081 Prepared by: LSA Associates, Inc. 1650 Spruce Street, Suite 500 Riverside, California 92507 (909) 781-9310 LSA Project No. CDT230I July 25, 2003 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 1 A: PURPOSE .................................................................................................................. 1 B: DEFINITIONS ........................................................................................................... 2 2: DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................... 3 A: WHAT CONSTITUTES A FUNCTIONAL WILDLIFE CROSSING ACROSS A TRANSPORTATION RIGHT-OF-WAY? .................................................... 3 B: WHAT LARGE AND MEDIUM-SIZED MAMMALS (MOUNTAIN LION, BOBCAT, MULE DEER, GRAY FOX, BADGER, AND COYOTE) USE WILDLIFE CROSSINGS THROUGH TRANSPORTATION RIGHTS-OF- WAY? WHAT ARE THE SPECIES-SPECIFIC PREFERENCES OF A FUNCTIONAL WILDLIFE CROSSING? ........................................................ 6 C: WHAT ARE THE CONSTRAINTS TO WILDLIFE MOVEMENT THROUGH WILDLIFE CROSSINGS? .............................................................................. 11 D: WHAT ENHANCEMENTS WOULD BE MOST VALUABLE FOR MAINTAINING OR PROMOTING WILDLIFE USE OF AN EXISTING WILDLIFE CROSSING?................................................................................. 13 E: WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS (DIRECT, INDIRECT, CUMULATIVE) OF LAND USE CHANGES, URBANIZATION AND ROAD PROJECTS TO WILDLIFE CROSSING VIABILITY? ........................................................... 14 F: WHAT ARE APPROPRIATE MITIGATION MEASURES, SUGGESTED MONITORING METHODS, AND COMPATIBLE HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES FOR ENSURING THAT CONSTRUCTED WILDLIFE CROSSINGS WILL BE FUNCTIONAL....... 15 3: CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 19 4: LITERATURE CITED.......................................................................................................... 21 TABLES A – MINIMUM HABITAT REQUIREMENTS AND WILDLIFE CORRIDOR AREAS FOR LARGE MAMMALS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ........................................... 7 B –WILDLIFE CROSSINGS AND PASSAGEWAY DIMENSIONS FOR LARGE MAMMALS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA .................................................................. 8 R:\Cdt230I\docs_final\Literature Review\TOC.doc (3/19/2004) i 1. INTRODUCTION The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 7 is conducting an environmental review on the effects of State Route 118 (SR-118) road improvements. The proposed project is located at Rocky Peak Road. The road improvements currently proposed are the eastbound off-ramp and the westbound on-ramp of Rocky Peak Road Overcrossing. The environmental review process includes a wildlife corridor assessment, part of which is camera and track station monitoring survey at several passageways across SR-118. The monitoring is being conducted to survey the wildlife activity adjacent and through the SR-118 right-of-way. Another part of the wildlife corridor assessment includes reviewing scientific literature. Topics include the effects of transportation projects on large mammals and the mitigation for those effects, especially with regard to wildlife crossings, habitat corridors, and structural passageways. The literature review reports on the current knowledge of species requirements related to habitat corridors and passageways, which, in turn, can be used to develop minimum standards for wildlife crossings in Southern California and specifically the SR-118 road improvement project. A. PURPOSE The purpose of this literature review paper is to: • Report on the current state of knowledge on the subject of wildlife passageways through transportation rights-of-way; • Describe the characteristics of the passageways and habitat corridors used by large mammals in Southern California; • Summarize the known effects of road projects and land development to wildlife crossing function; and • Provide guidance on the most appropriate planning, designing, construction, landscaping, mitigation, maintenance, and monitoring approaches to a functional wildlife corridor and passageways for large mammals through transportation rights-of-way. The literature review provides background information pertinent to the following research questions: • What constitutes a functional wildlife crossing across a transportation right-of-way? • What large and medium-sized mammals (e.g., mountain lion, bobcat, mule deer, gray fox, badger, and coyote) use wildlife crossings through transportation right-of-way? What are the species- specific preferences of functional wildlife crossings? • What are the constraints to wildlife movement through wildlife crossings? R:\Cdt230I\docs_final\Literature Review\Ventura 118 Lit Review Paper.doc (07/25/2003) 1 LSA ASSOCIATES, INC. LITERATURE REVIEW PAPER JULY 2003 VENTURA 118 WILDLIFE CORRIDOR ASSESSMENT PROJECT • What enhancements would be most valuable for maintaining or promoting wildlife use of an existing wildlife crossing? • What are the effects (direct, indirect, and cumulative) of land use changes, urbanization, and road projects to wildlife crossing viability? • What are appropriate mitigation measures, suggested monitoring methods, and compatible highway maintenance activities for ensuring a constructed wildlife crossing will be functional? B. DEFINITIONS The following terms are defined for the sake of clarification: Home Range An area that an animal may use to forage, hunt, or otherwise occupy but not actively defend from competitors. Minimum Habitat Area The amount of undeveloped land that can sustain a viable population of a target species for at least 100 years. Overpasses Could either be a road over-crossing or a vegetated overpass. In Europe, the vegetated overpass is also called an “ecoduct” or “green bridge.” Species Density The number of individuals per unit area. Target Species The literature review focused on some of the large and medium mammals known to occur in Simi Hill and Santa Monica Mountains. These species are mountain lion, bobcat, gray fox, coyote, mule deer and badger. Underpass Could be a corrugated pipe culvert, reinforced concrete pipe or box culvert, or bridge. Underpasses can be developed with a dirt or paved road or be a natural dry canyon or stream channel. Viaduct A very long and elevated bridge that spans an entire valley, canyon, or multiple streams or river channels. Wildlife Corridor A strip of habitat that connects two otherwise separated larger habitat (Linkage) areas (Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy [SMMC] 1990). Wildlife Crossing A specific location along a transportation right-of-way where a strip of habitat and a passageway exist together and could potentially function as a pathway for wildlife to cross the right-of-way. Wildlife Passageway A term used in this review to identify the actual structure used by wildlife to cross a transportation right-of-way. Passageways can either be underpasses or overpasses (Jackson and Griffin 1998). R:\Cdt230I\docs_final\Literature Review\Ventura 118 Lit Review Paper.doc (07/25/2003) 2 2. DISCUSSION A. WHAT CONSTITUTES A FUNCTIONAL WILDLIFE CROSSING ACROSS A TRANSPORTATION RIGHT-OF-WAY? This section will review the literature findings as related to the general requirements of wildlife crossings and passageways. The following section will discuss the species-specific wildlife crossing and passageway preferences: A wildlife crossing is considered functional when it meets the following three criteria: • It reduces roadkill after construction; • It maintains habitat connectivity and the target species is present on both sides of the right-of- way; and • It allows genetic interchange to occur (Foreman and others 2003). A wildlife corridor is functioning over a longer period of time when: • Species fitness in ensured (genetic exchange, no genetic drift, no skewed sex ratios); • Juveniles are successful in dispersing across the right-of-way; and • Normal ecological processes are occurring (Foreman and others 2003). Before a wildlife habitat crossing can be functional, there must be sufficient habitat present on either side of the transportation right-of-way to support a population of the target species. Creating a functional wildlife crossing for large mammals entails wildlife conservation planning on a regional scale. Conservation includes protecting large habitat reserves and smaller interconnected protected areas, and using large carnivores as the planning focal species (Hunter 1999). In addition, planning needs to consider how the wildlife will get to the crossing from known breeding and foraging or hunting areas (Federal Highway Administration [FHWA] 2000a). Using a generalized strategy in wildlife corridor and crossing planning, the target species is typically an umbrella species. An umbrella species is a species whose protection is expected to award
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